Different
by Joelle8
Summary: Without any doubt, if one were to sum Tonks up in one word, it would be different.  Accordingly, her tastes can be described by that word, too.


**_Dedicated to KatherineGrace79. I told you I would do this dare my own way._**

Different

There is a point in every young-or-not child's life when they have a crush on one of their teachers. The witches and wizard of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are no exception.

New teachers are always exciting and a bit questionable, so the DADA professors are common victims of schoolgirl and schoolboy crushes. Though often seen as far too intimidating to be liked like _that_, Professor McGonagall was young once, and an _itsybit _less stern and a _wholelotta _less wrinkled. Professor Flitwick is seen by many girls as simply adorable, quite like their much adored pets, and thus is as accidentally charming as the subject he taught. Professor Sprout is the best person to talk to out of all the teachers when one has a problem and needs someone to confide him; so she has her fair share of admirers, too. And with so many subjects comes so many _more _teachers, all of whom have had at least one admire during their time at Hogwarts.

All except for Severus Snape, for there is _nothing _about him that would appeal to any child- no warmth, no looks, not even _fairness_- and that is exactly how he likes it.

But then, here comes this _girl_, this ohso innocent little First Year girl with yellow and black robes and hair as pink as the candy she likes to choose. To start off with, her name is Nymphadora Tonks (it really isn't any wonder that she goes by her last name); her parents are Andromeda Tonks, who was born part of the all-Slytherin, all-Dark Black family and left all their wealth and power in order to marry Tonks' Hufflepuff, Muggleborn father, Ted; she's a Metamorphmagus; and, even though it's not really as major as all the other factors, she is quite possibly the clumsiest person in the history of the world.

Without any doubt, if one were to sum Tonks up in one word, it would be _different_. Accordingly, her tastes can be described by that word, too.

XxxxX

She first saw the Potions Master during the Welcoming Feast. Proudly seated at the Hufflepuff table, another badger- the Prefect, she realizes with a start as she sees his badge- nudges her, a look of warning on his kind face.

"You said you're a Metamorphmagus, aren't you?" She nods. "Well, you might want to change your hair to a more normal color. Professor Snape doesn't look to be very pleased with it."

Tonks' pink head immediately whips around to face the Head Table, where it's not hard to spot this Professor Snape. He's staring directly at her- or, more accurately, her bright hair- with a face of pure disgust; his lip is curled up. A bell rings briefly in the back of Tonks' mind; a hushed warning from her mother, one she had ignored because there were so many others:

"_I heard that a boy that was in my fam- in the Black family's crowd, called Snape, became Potions Master. You know that the- the Black family is very mean, Nymphadora, very very mean, and I doubt Snape's that nice either. You'd do well to always be on your best behavior around him; be wary."_

Tonks had asked what "wary" meant and then promptly forgot about the warning (and, incidentally, what "wary" meant) until this moment. Except she still doesn't remember what "wary" means, which is unfortunate, but she doesn't really care _that _much. She's smart enough to understand the warning without knowing the definition of that one word.

Yet as she looks the Professor over, she finds that she just _can't _hate him because it would be _so _easy to. Sallow, pale skin; greasy black hair; a nose that is gigantic in addition to being hooked; a rotten expression, and coal black eyes. Yes, he is the epitome of The Hateable Person, which means that he all he really needs is a friend. Tonks is sure, three-hundred-twenty percent sure, that if Professor Snape had a friend- for surely, being so obviously hateable, he has none- he would turn out to be a very nice person indeed, no matter what her mother says.

She decides that she will take on that role.

XxxxX

_If this girl does not go away and stop bothering me, then I will cast Sectumsempra on her, _Severus Snape thought sourly as the beaming pink-haired Hufflepuff bounded up to his desk. _Actually, no, I won't. Much too messy._

"Wotcher, Professor Snape!" The girl- Tonks, the daughter of a Mudblood and the biggest blood traitor of this century- greets him. "How are you?"

"Wanting to get on with my work," Professor Snape replies tersely. "So I suggest that you do that same, and continue to your next class."

"But I wanted to show you something, Professor!" Tonks protests. "Please, Professor, just one little thing!"

"No."

"But it's _really cool, _Professor, you'll love it!"

"I assure you, I won't."

"Just look, Professor! Look at my head!"

The sound of the First Year's jumping is so distracting that Snape cannot help but look up. Instead of scolding her, however, his eyes instantly fall on her hair. Not the pig snout, or the Asian eyes, or the toothless mouth; just the hair.

Her hair is green now. _The _green. The exact shade of green that he hasn't seen in so long, but that he'll never forget…

How did she learn that shade of green, he wonders? For that shade is too unique for anyone to just pick it off of the top of their head; did her mother know Lily? Andromeda and Black (Sirius, that is) were each other's favorite cousins, that was easy enough to assume, and Black _certainly _knew Lily. Maybe he had visited his fellow traitorous cousin one time, brought pictures with him of his friends, of Lily, _LilyLilyLily…_

Wait.

That's _Lily's _green.

_No one _can have _Lily's green _except for _Lily_.

How _dare _this- this worthless little Hufflepuff wear _that green_!

"Get out. _Now_," the Potions Master snarls, his face morphing into an expression of the utmost rage. "And if you ever bother me after class again, Miss Tonks, I will waste no hesitation in going to the Headmaster about you."

Tonks, her cheeks blushing a furious pink that clashes horribly with her now _muchtoogreen _hair, nods and flees the room.

Severus puts his head in his hands.

XxxxX

When she's finally out of the dungeons, the Hufflepuff takes a moment to beam, her cheeks still pink as her hair morphs to match it. Sure, maybe he yelled at her in the end, but it was all too easy to read his expression before that: _love_.

So _that'_s his problem. He doesn't just need _friends, _he needs _love_!

_It's so romantic, _Tonks gushes to herself. _That's why he doesn't want to talk to me- he's still in denial! It's _forbidden love_! Oh, this is going to be _so _fun; I'm sure Mum and Dad won't mind, I mean, since Snape- I wonder what his first name is? I should probably figure that out- and I are in love, after all. And there's no way that _they, _of all people, can argue that love conquers all…_

With these thoughts swimming through her head, Tonks skips to her next class, which she's almost exactly eight minutes late to. She blames it on falling down the stairs (everyone believes her).

XxxxX

On February 14, Snape receives a Valentine:

_Dear Severus,_

_I know your secret. Don't worry I love you too. I won't tell. _

_Happy Valentine's Day!_

_-Tonks_

It was pink and shaped like a heart and covered with lace and Severus was more than a little embarrassed to show it to the Headmaster when he filed his complaint.

XxxxX

_Well, _that _was embarrassing, _Tonks reflects with a shudder as she walks down to the Hufflepuff Common Room after her meeting with Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape. Really, did Sev- Professor Snape _have _to bring the Headmaster into this? Couldn't he just have kept her after class one day and let her down gently?

Actually, now that Tonks thinks about that, it wouldn't have worked at all, not a bit. For one thing, she wouldn't have believed him; for another, she's not sure he knows _how _to let someone down, and _certainly _not how to do it gently. At least the Professor was aware of that, and was nice enough- or just lazy enough- to get the kindly Headmaster to do it for him.

_So, really, no matter how mortifying- oh, Mum would be _so_ proud of me using the word- that was, it was for the best. _She sighs. _It still wasn't very fun, though. _

She feels worse for Professor Snape than she does for herself, though. Technically, he _did _lead her on, but he didn't _mean _to; _she _was the one who kept harassing (_Another big word! Wish Mum could see me now!_) him.

The right thing to do comes to her in a sudden flash of color in her mind, and she runs the entire rest of the way to her dormitory.

XxxxX

_I'm sorry._

Those two words are followed by even more that he didn't care about, and are written on a sheet of paper that beautiful, heart-wrenching, ohso _Lily _green.

With a simple Severing Charm, the part with the words is removed from the rest of the _greengreengreen_,which Severus tucks in the pocket of his robes.

XxxxX

The next time Tonks has Potions class, she isn't entirely sure what to expect. On the one hand, the Professor could treat her worse than the germs on the bottom of his shoe; but she _had _sent him an apology, so on the other hand, maybe he had been touched by that and had decided that Tonks would now be the sole student he liked.

He ends up treating her no differently from anyone else.

_Guess I can't be different _all _the time, _she thinks as he takes away fifty points from Hufflepuff, her potion bubbling over and onto his now-burning shoe.

**_That was my interpretation of Snape/Tonks, done for a dare. Don't worry, it won't be done again. I'm not sure whether I like this or not- I think I sucked at writing at both characters, personally. But what do YOU think? Please review and tell me! Thanks so much for reading! :)_**

**_-Joelle8_**


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